NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Parents have long poured on
cheese sauce, peanut butter and the like to coax kids to eat
their vegetables, but a new study suggests those tricks might
also get children to look more favorably at the vegetables
themselves.

Preschoolers introduced to Brussels sprouts alongside cream
cheese to spread on the bitter vegetable more often said they
liked the sprouts and ate more of them, even when later served
plain.

The strategy of pairing something new with something a
person already likes is known as associative conditioning and
could be helpful in encouraging kids - and adults - to eat more
fruits and vegetables, the authors say.

"This has the potential to change the eating habits of
children, including eating more vegetables, and this in turn
will affect childhood obesity," said Elizabeth Capaldi-Phillips,
a psychologist at Arizona State University and lead author of
the study.

The research was published in Journal of the Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics.

In the study, parents of 29 children between the ages of
three and five years old filled out a survey about the kids'
views of 11 vegetables, including whether they liked or disliked
the vegetable, or had never tried it.

Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts were among the vegetables
most children had not tried, and were selected as the ones used
to gauge children's preferences in the study.

The children were given either cauliflower or Brussels
sprouts once per day for seven days, and ate in a group of five
or six children that was led by a researcher or teacher. The
vegetables were all boiled, then were either served plain, with
unsweetened cream cheese or with sweetened cream cheese.

After this conditioning period, the kids were given the
vegetables plain.

The researchers found that children given Brussels sprouts
with cream cheese during conditioning liked them significantly
more than those given plain sprouts.

Less than one in five kids given plain sprouts said they
liked the vegetable, whereas about two-thirds of kids who got
sprouts with either type of cream cheese said they liked the
vegetables.

The children liked milder, non-bitter cauliflower more
overall, and about equally whether or not it was served with
cream cheese.

After the conditioning period, when children were given the
plain vegetables, those who had previously said they "liked"
Brussels sprouts ate more of them than kids who had expressed
dislike.

Although previous research has found that kids need to try
some new foods eight to 10 times before they get used to the
taste, the children in the study tried the new vegetables only
seven times before they would eat them plain, the authors point
out.

Such a flavor-pairing strategy could work, not only for
Brussels sprouts, but other vegetables and foods of other kinds,
they suggest.

"Children develop food preferences at a young age, yet tend
to be really picky at this age, so it's important to sustain
healthy habits which will persist into adulthood," Devina
Wadhera, also a researcher at Arizona State University and the
study's other author, told Reuters Health.

"It's our job as parents, as educators to get them to accept
new foods at this time," she wrote in an email.

SOURCE: bit.ly/1inq5S1 Journal of the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics, online January 21, 2014.